(ZENIT News / Green Bay, Wisconsin, 02.09.2026).- Bishop David Ricken opened the Cause for Beatification of Adele Brice, a Belgian immigrant in Wisconsin who witnessed apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Victory, in 1859.
Adele Brice was born on January 30, 1831. She was a catechist for children and claimed to have received a mission from Mary to teach everyone how to attain salvation. She died in 1896. The path to her beatification was officially opened on what would have been her 195th birthday.
Bishop David Ricken explained: «We believe and declare that Mary, the Queen of Heaven, appeared to Adele and shared her wishes for her to educate the children in this wild country. And she spent her whole life fulfilling that mission.»
The declaration of Adele Brice as a Servant of God marks the beginning of the diocesan phase in the investigation into her life. Bishop Ricken explained at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that during his 18 years in the diocese he heard «countless stories about Adele’s life and virtues.» This motivated him to study the catechist’s life and open the Cause for her Canonization.
He requested testimonies about her life at the end of 2025 and received dozens of stories. He appointed Father John Girotti, Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Victory, to lead Adele’s cause in the diocesan phase, which will begin with the study of documents and her writings. This will be followed by the theological analysis to investigate how she followed the path of the Lord Jesus and whether she lived with heroic virtue.
Then testimonies will be sought to find examples of holiness and if there are prayers answered by God with supernatural events.
Father Anthony Stephens, CPM, Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Victory, stated that Adele was not considered attractive or intelligent. Her face was disfigured, especially her left eye, by bleach splashed on her as a child. «But in the eyes of Heaven,» he said, «we recognize her beauty, her sanctity, and her new status as a Servant of God, someone who helps us reflect the love of Christ because she was so deeply in love with the Lord.» He also commented that the opening of Adele’s cause shows everyone that «anyone can be a saint, regardless of their education, physical location, or spiritual background.»
